So, if you’ve been paying attention, and my guess is you haven’t, you’ve most likely heard about Tinted Windows—A power-pop Supergroup consisting of Smashing Pumpkins’ James Iha, Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger, Hanson’s Taylor Hanson, and Cheap Trick’s Bun. E Carlos. And I’ll be the first one to say it….they’re good. Really good. Popwreckoning’s Los Angeles writer, Sara Swiecki, got the chance to talk to Schlesinger for a bit, and here’s what came of it!
PopWreckoning, Sara Swiecki: So, how did the whole group come to be? Everything I’ve read says that James is the one who put it together. Is that true?
Adam Schlesinger, Tinted Windows: Uh, well no. Not exactly. I think it was actually my idea, but James and I were partners in a recording studio in New York and working together on a lot of stuff. So, I kind of mentioned it to him to see if he’d be interested. “Y’know,” I said. “We could do something with Taylor,” and he said, “Yeah, definitely.” And I had known Taylor for many years, so I just called him and said, “What do you think of this idea of doing a band? You’d be the singer. We’d get James to play guitar. We’ll look for a drummer,” and he said, “Yeah.” And that was about three years ago. And then we started working on it in little bits and pieces, and eventually, when we started talking about drummers, we came up with the idea of trying to contact Bun E. and, uh, and he said, “Yes.”
PW: Well you do realize that this is kind of an eyebrow-raising group of musicians you guys got goin’ together? Kind of an unlikely quartet…
AS: Um, I mean, I think it seems weirder than it actually is, just because there’s a big range of ages within the band, and each of the bands we come from maybe have different reputations. But, um, musically, I think we all kind of come from the same place. I mean, I think we’re all kind of fans of guitar-based pop music. And y’know, melodic music. And it seemed like a pretty natural fit on a musical level right away.
PW: Very cool. Um, do you think that with Taylor, there’s a certain stigma that he’s bringing over because Hanson got so much crap back in the day for being, like, y’know, the early Jonas Brothers?
AS: (laughs) Well, I think people understand. I mean, first of all he was a teenager at that time and he’s 26-years-old now.
PW: Yeah.
AS: The other thing is that, I mean, I don’t really know why you would give him crap. I mean, how many kids his age when he was 15 or whatever wrote a number 1 single in 28 countries or whatever it was (laughs)? It gives you a pretty good sense of accomplishment.
PW: Oh no, I totally agree, I’m a Hanson fan! I defend them all the time. I’m just saying what other people are thinking.
AS: Well, I think, I mean, certainly there’s a curiosity factor for people who maybe haven’t thought about Taylor for a long time because they haven’t seen him in any other context. But as you know, if you’re a Hanson fan, he’s been making music all along, and he’s a fantastic singer and a fantastic songwriter. So, I don’t think it’s that unusual for him to be playing with us.
PW: Ok, cool! Um, Do you think that this…y’know you were previously with Fountains of Wayne, James was previously with Pumpkins and everything…
AS: Oh, I’m still with Fountains of Wayne. Nobody’s quit their day jobs! Although James hasn’t been with the Pumpkins for close to ten years (laughs). But I’m still with Fountains of Wayne, Taylor’s still with Hanson, and Bun E.’s still with Cheap Trick. This is just something that we’re doing in addition to that.
PW: Well, yeah. But, where I was going with it, though is do you think that this is–doing a group like this is easier because you’re already established musicians? Or does it make things harder because it’s hard to disassociate?
AS: Well, I don’t really know how to answer that question. It’s not particularly hard. I mean, the only hard thing has been, sometimes just the scheduling of it, because everybody’s really busy. But I think our motivation in doing this, really, is just to have fun. It was intended to be something to do just for the fun of it, and that’s really how we’ve approached it. With your first band, there’s so much intensity and so much pressure and this is the opposite of that. This is something nobody was really expecting, and nobody really had any particular expectations about. So it’s really just something we did to have a change of pace, and get a chance to work with some friends, and just to have a good time.
PW: Ok. So you’re the primary songwriter, yes? Did it just happen that way, or…?
AS: We didn’t really plan it that way. I mean, James wrote some and Taylor wrote some. But I wrote more. But it’s still very collaborative and making the record was very collaborative.
PW: Ok. Why did we decide on the name Tinted Windows? Did it just sound cool? Does it mean something?
AS: It was just kind of a goofy name. It was almost a joke at the beginning and it kinda stuck. I mean, I think we thought it sounded slightly hokey, and I think we liked that about it. It sounded like a cover band or something (laughs). 
PW: (laughs) It kinda does, yeah! You were recently nominated for an Emmy, yes?
AS: Yes.
PW: Do you want to tell us a little bit about that?
AS: Sure! Well, I worked on a show called “A Colbert Christmas,” which was a Stephen Colbert Christmas special.
PW: Yeah, I saw it!
AS: And I wrote a bunch of song with a guy named David Javerbaum, who is a friend of mine and who also works at “The Daily Show.” That’s his day job. And it was a really fun project. We got to work with a lot of cool people like Elvis Costello and Feist and John Legend…Toby Keith, Willie Nelson….uh, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, obviously. So it was just a fun…a fun one-time project.
PW: That’s cool. That’s very cool. Um, for Tinted Windows, for the band or for your songwriting…What would you say, like, what other bands or what other style is your primary influence? Y’know, for people who haven’t heard it yet.
AS: I think we were thinking about a lot of power-pop bands from the late 70’s and early 80’s. I mean, The Knack was one of my favorite bands. Obviously Cheap Trick was a big influence, and the fact that we got their drummer was kind of a miracle (laughs). We love Cheap Trick. We were also thinking of some of the pop-punk bands from that period, too. The Buzzcocks, mainly, and stuff like that. But I think there’s also….Y’know it’s got a retro vibe to it, but I think there’s also some modern rock guitar sounds on it that aren’t completely retro.
PW: Right.
AS: As an album, I think we mostly just wanted to have a high-energy record and have the songs be very direct. And I mean, hopefully they’re catchy.
PW: They are! What are your favorites, I mean if you had to pick two or three favorites from the album, what would they be?
AS: Oh, it’s hard for me to be objective…
PW: It’s like picking one of your favorite kids!
AS: Well, I really like “Messing With My Head.” That was one of the first ones we did.
PW: That’s my favorite.
AS: And I think it came out really well. I think that one of the songs James wrote, which is called “Back With You,” which is kind of a ballad, is really strong. And the song which is last on the record which is “Take Me Back,” which is one that Taylor and I wrote together. That was also an early one that we wrote, and I like that one a lot. We kind of kicked that one out in an afternoon at his house in Tulsa. So I have good memories of putting that one together.
PW: Alright. Do we have plans to tour anytime soon?
AS: Well, we’ve got some shows coming up in August. We’re doing shows primarily on the East Coast. We’ve got like a Boston, a D.C., a Philly show. There’s one in Connecticut. And then we have a San Francisco show a few weeks later. And we’re going to try to do some more after that. We’re talking about going to Japan. That hasn’t been officially booked yet, but we’re working on it. But all the tour dates are up on our website, which is tintedwindowsmusic.com.
PW: Ok. You guys actually made your debut at South By Southwest this year. Correct?
AS: Yep.
PW: Alright, what do you think? What what the popular reaction?
AS: I thought it was really positive. I mean, y’know, the record wasn’t out at that point, and it was such a curiosity once people heard that the band existed. So, I think a lot of people turned up just to see what it was about. But I feel like it went really well. Y’know we went down there and played like three shows, and we got really positive feedback from people.
PW: Great! I think that wraps everything up. Is there anything else you want to say or wanted to be known about Tinted Windows?
AS: No, I think you covered it!
PW: Ok great! Thank you so much, Adam!
AS: Yeah, I appreciate you doing the site!
PW: Yeah, no problem! Have a good one!
AS: You, too.
PW: Bye!
AS: Bye!
Tinted Windows: website | myspace | @ Pangaea, SXSW
